Chapter 253: The Snowfields

Zheng Fan had never expected the Marquis of Jingnan to have already entered Shengle City, much less to have walked right up in front of him.

Getting caught badmouthing your direct superior to his face was an exquisitely sour experience.

It was rather like telling a female boss she had hit menopause while she was standing right there, or telling a male boss he could no longer perform below the waist.

The scouts outside the city, the soldiers guarding the walls none of them seemed to have reacted at all.

Granted, most of Shengle City’s troops had already been led into the mountains by Liang Cheng, but Gao Yi’s Jingnan Army detachment was still responsible for the city’s patrols and defenses.

Of course, when soldiers of the Jingnan Army saw the Marquis of Jingnan himself, it was practically the same as fans meeting their idol. Whether emotionally or logically, they could toss aside Zheng Fan, their immediate superior, in an instant.

Failing to report the Marquis’s arrival was perfectly understandable.

Still, judging from Tian Wujing’s current appearance, he had traded his Pixiu for an ordinary horse, his gilded armor for plain Jin clothing, and even wore a conical hat.

He had probably slipped directly into the city in disguise.

Leaving aside Tian Wujing’s own cultivation as a Martial Artist, the mystic arts he was skilled in alone were more than enough to evade Shengle City’s severely understaffed defenses and walk straight into this place unnoticed.

Back then, hadn’t Zheng Fan himself once taken the Blind Man and the others to dig at the foot of Mianzhou City’s walls?

Hadn’t that been effortless too?

That also explained why Siniang had sensed nothing.

If Tian Wujing deliberately concealed his aura, Siniang was not the Blind Man. It would be very difficult for her to detect him in advance.

As for the Demon Child…

Zheng Fan had no idea whether the Demon Child had genuinely failed to react, or whether he had recognized Tian Wujing, judged him nonthreatening, and simply could not be bothered.

The Blind Man had said before that ever since the Demon Child awakened after advancing, his mental power was no longer allowed even half a step into Zheng Fan’s rear residence.

None of that mattered right now.

What mattered was the Marquis of Jingnan was standing right in front of him.

Zheng Fan immediately jogged forward several steps and very naturally took Tian Wujing’s reins for him.

“Marquis, if you were coming to inspect the work, why didn’t you send word ahead of time?”

“Send word?”

“Yes. I could’ve arranged for Shengle City’s people to line the streets and welcome you. We could’ve done a thorough cleaning beforehand too.”

“Heh.”

Tian Wujing seemed long accustomed to the way Zheng Fan spoke in front of him.

“Is there food?”

“There is. Absolutely.”

Siniang curtsied lightly toward Tian Wujing.

“This servant will prepare the meal.”

Zheng Fan led Tian Wujing into the residence.

“Marquis, I never had the chance before. This time I’ll let you taste some dishes from my hometown.”

Zheng Fan still remembered the pickled-cabbage fish he had once eaten at the Marquis of Jingnan’s place.

Alas.

All one could say was that the people of this world still possessed a somewhat shallow understanding of cuisine.

Knowing how to cook was an extraordinary skill in any era.

It did not merely earn bonus points during matchmaking.

If you transmigrated one day, it could become a craft for making your living.

If Zheng Fan had not insisted on preserving his standards of “never tiring of fine food or finely cut meat” even while camping in the wilderness, how could he ever have hooked such a huge fish as Sha Tuo Queshi?

“Beifeng Commandery’s cuisine is not particularly good,” Tian Wujing said.

“Marquis, you’ll understand once you’ve tasted it. Come, this way.”

The Marquis of Jingnan did not enter the room.

Instead, he sat directly on the threshold.

Zheng Fan paused for a moment, went inside to fetch a tea set, then sat down beside Tian Wujing on the threshold.

Tian Wujing pointed toward the steps ahead.

“Do you remember the first time this Marquis met you?

“You were kneeling down there.”

Back then, trouble had broken out during the funeral of Nanwang City’s garrison commander.

The Jingnan Army had taken advantage of the situation to enter and occupy Nanwang City, while Tian Wujing had ridden directly into the commander’s residence.

Tian Wujing had sat on the threshold of the mourning hall.

Zheng Fan and Zuo Jiqian had knelt below, trembling like leaves.

“Of course I remember. The first time I saw you, Marquis, I’ll be truthful—I really was overwhelmed by that heroic aura of yours. I didn’t even dare raise my head.”

“And now?”

“I’m even more afraid.”

Back then, Zheng Fan had merely thought Tian Wujing was a powerful noble, a great general, and that the armor he wore looked extremely handsome.

Then Tian Wujing had taken him along to exterminate his own entire clan…

Fuck.

After Zheng Fan returned home, he had nightmares about it at night, all right?

“And yet now you dare sit shoulder to shoulder with this Marquis.”

“You’ve saved my life several times, Marquis. I owe you far too much.

“In the future I’ll repay it with my life if I have to.

“Compared with that, what meaning could these empty formalities possibly have against even one ten-thousandth of your kindness toward me?”

“This Marquis has always thought that talent of yours for talking would be wasted in the army.”

“Marquis, I truly have no fate with Eunuch Wei.”

“But Wei Zhonghe is said to have regretted it greatly.

“Especially after reading your *Zheng Treatise on War*. He lamented that he truly should have kept you in the palace back then.

“That way, in future years, the inner palace might have produced a great eunuch master of military strategy.”

“Eunuch Wei just likes making jokes. Heh. Jokes.”

“Some days ago, a certain argument appeared at court.

“For these newly conquered Jin territories, the policy should supposedly emphasize leniency and conciliation.

“Beyond the grain and provisions required to support the troops stationed here, other taxes and corvée labor should be reduced in hopes of winning over the hearts of the Jin people.

“What do you think?”

“Marquis, this subordinate believes that would be inappropriate.

“These newly conquered lands were won by Great Yan through blade and spear. They did not voluntarily submit.

“The people of Yan endured heavy corvée obligations to support the army’s provisions, allowing our soldiers to expand the realm.

“If the people of the newly conquered Jin territories end up paying lower taxes than those in Yan proper and bearing lighter corvée as well, then what was the point of conquering this place?

“To the common people of Great Yan, wouldn’t it mean they exhausted themselves fighting only to find half the State of Jin sitting on top of their heads as new fathers?”

“That way of putting it is rather interesting.

“Princes, nobles, generals, and ministers all see matters from their own level.

“Scholars like to proclaim that they speak on behalf of the common people, but in truth they merely use ‘the people’ as a memorial archway while continuing to say whatever they themselves wish to say.

“But this Marquis thinks what you just said is actually what ordinary people would think.”

“Marquis, you flatter me.

“This subordinate came from the marketplace. Perhaps the smell of ordinary common folk still hasn’t completely faded from me.”

“Good that it hasn’t faded.

“Keep talking.

“This Marquis happens to need to write a memorial here later. You can send it to Yanjing for me.”

“Yes, Marquis.

“This subordinate believes that a policy of preferential treatment and excessive leniency would not merely fail to make the Jin people sincerely submit.

“It would instead alienate the people of Yan proper.

“The foundation of Great Yan remains its own people.

“They are the ones who truly belong to us.

“As for these newly conquered Jin lands, so long as Great Yan remains militarily strong and suppresses them firmly for fifty years, after two generations they will naturally have become Yan people.”

This was a theory that later generations had proven countless times over.

Its name was licking dogs never die well.

“I see.

“So the real purpose behind this grand argument of yours is that City Defender Zheng doesn’t want anyone interfering with your plundering of the countryside?”

Clearly, on his way into Shengle City, the Marquis of Jingnan had already noticed the city’s “major construction projects.”

Building a new Shengle City and opening workshops required enormous amounts of manpower and wealth.

If the Yan court chose to implement a lenient policy toward the newly conquered Jin territories, Zheng Fan would naturally have his hands tied.

“Marquis, you jest.”

“Then Shengle City is only a small city to begin with.

“Why are you building walls this enormous?”

“Afraid of dying.”

Silence.

Silence.

Even Tian Wujing was momentarily choked speechless by such a brutally straightforward answer.

“Heh. Hehehe.”

The Marquis of Jingnan laughed.

“Your troops have already entered the mountains?”

“Yes.”

“You moved quickly.”

“Your military order arrived, Marquis. This subordinate did not dare delay in the slightest.”

The Marquis of Jingnan stood.

At last he stopped sitting on the threshold and entered the room.

Zheng Fan personally prepared brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

The memorial was written quickly.

Tian Wujing did not appear to stamp it with any seal.

He simply folded it closed and handed it to Zheng Fan.

“Send it.”

“This subordinate obeys.”

At that moment, Siniang entered and bowed slightly.

“Marquis, the meal is ready.”

The meal was lavish.

Siniang had prepared several of her specialty dishes.

Zheng Fan accompanied Tian Wujing while they ate.

It was obvious that Tian Wujing was extremely satisfied with the food.

Only after the bowls and chopsticks had been removed and sweet soup served did Tian Wujing speak again.

“This Marquis received the things you sent to Litian City.

“She liked them very much.

“You put thought into it.”

“Elder Sister Dujuan is like my own sister-in-law.

“It was only what this subordinate should do.”

“If she is your sister-in-law, then what is this Marquis to you?”

“My real older brother, of course.”

Tian Wujing’s gaze darkened slightly.

“This Marquis’s family members have never had good endings.”

Zheng Fan’s expression stiffened awkwardly.

He did not dare argue further.

After a long silence, “You advanced again?”

“Yes. Seventh Grade now.”

“Not bad.”

“I’m still far behind you, Marquis.

“Right—your injuries?”

“Wounds left by the Sword Saint are not so easily healed.

“But they no longer pose any serious problem.”

The Four Great Swordsmen had once been paragons for Martial Artists throughout the age.

In terms of popularity, they were not much different from the Four Heavenly Kings of later generations.

Unfortunately, recent events had been unkind to their reputations.

The Hundred-Li Sword had gone to Yanjing and accomplished nothing, then been forced to flee before a thousand cavalry beneath the walls of Shangjing.

The Swordsmith of Chu had waved the banner for Chu’s Third Prince and lost face in the process.

The Sword Saint of Jin had been defeated by the Marquis of Jingnan of Great Yan.

For a time, the reputation of the Four Great Swordsmen had dimmed considerably.

At the end of the day, in the jianghu, being weak was the original sin.

“Marquis, there’s a hot-spring pool in my rear residence.

“The water is specially prepared, and with a few medicinal herbs added, soaking in it can help remove hidden injuries from a Martial Artist’s body.”

When two brothers were close, naturally they went bathing together.

Still, even though the residence had no shortage of young women, Zheng Fan genuinely did not dare proactively send a woman to the Marquis of Jingnan.

First, it felt somewhat beneath him.

Second, he did not want to sully the pure relationship between the two of them through that sort of method.

Third he was afraid Tian Wujing would simply slap him dead.

“No bath.”

“Then shall this subordinate arrange a place for you to rest?”

“No need to rest either.”

“Uh… then shall this subordinate take you around Shengle City for a look?”

“Your city is only half built.

“What is there to look at?”

“Uh…”

The Marquis of Jingnan stood and picked up his conical hat.

He clearly intended to leave.

Zheng Fan hurriedly followed him out of the courtyard.

“This Marquis has a habit.

“Before a battle, I personally examine every detail.

“Just as the book you wrote says—know yourself and know your enemy, and you need not fear a hundred battles.

“This Marquis intends to personally travel through the snowfields once.

“By the time I return, the thirty thousand elite cavalry I have mobilized should also have arrived.”

“Marquis, your caution in warfare truly makes you a model for us all.

“Wait a moment. I’ll have people prepare some travel rations so that—”

“No need.

“Don’t trouble yourself.”

“Then please be careful, Marquis.

“Though this subordinate thinks there are very few people left in this world capable of injuring you.”

“This Marquis knows his own limits.”

“Marquis, take care.

“What a pity.

“This subordinate wishes he could remain beside you day and night, listening to your teachings. This subordinate…”

The Marquis of Jingnan swung himself onto his horse.

Hearing those words, he suddenly turned his head and looked at Zheng Fan.

“I’ll grant your wish.”

“Ah?”

“You are permitted to accompany this Marquis into the snowfields first.”

“…”

Zheng Fan.

[End of Chapter 253]